Saturday, July 07, 2012

P-Noy to China: Pull out ships from shoal

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday called
on China to pull out all its ships from Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal as
he assailed Beijing for asking the Philippines to stop making
provocative statements while itself continuing to talk.

“It’s not clear to me what provocative statements the Philippines or
Filipino officials have made. But we know that the other side has been
saying a lot. So maybe they should read first what have been written on
their end and with all due respect, maybe they can balance that with
reality,” Aquino said yesterday.

Malacañang also said that the redeployment of ships to Panatag Shoal,
also known as Bajo de Masinloc, would depend on the weather.

“There are many schools of thought on how to handle (or) how to deal
with the Chinese. So we will be getting, in effect, a discussion on the
opposite points of view on what is the best approach to settle this
issue,” Aquino noted.

As this developed, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) summoned
on Wednesday China’s top diplomat in the Philippines and gave her a note
verbale protesting Beijng’s establishment of a new “prefectural-level”
city of Sansha to administer three disputed islands in the West
Philippine Sea and future development of the islands.

“The DFA sent a note verbale dated 28 June 2012 and handed this to
Ambassador Ma yesterday, protesting the establishment of Sansha City as
the extent of the jurisdiction of the city violates Philippine
territorial sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group (Spratlys) and
Bajo de Masinloc and infringes on Philippine sovereign rights over the
waters and continental shelf of the West Philippine Sea,” Foreign
Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

He pointed out “it was a diplomatic protest” since the declaration of
the establishment of Sansha City contradicts the spirit of the
Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the
non-aggression accord in 2002.

A senior security official also noted that China’s latest move showed
that it has no respect towards its neighbors when it comes to
peacefully settling territorial disputes in the region.

“With the way Beijing is behaving, it only showed that they don’t
have any respect towards its neighbors,” the security official, who
asked not be named, said.

Contrary to Beijing’s claim that the Philippines is plotting to
further increase the tension in the region, its present actions to
bolster its territorial claim of the entire South China Sea showed
otherwise, the security official said.

Earlier, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Chinese officials
and the state media were the ones who should be careful about issuing
statements.

“Can I say to the Chinese ‘xiao xin yi dian.’ Be a little careful
about your statements,” Lacierda said in reaction to a commentary in the
People’s Daily of China, which admonished the Philippine government for
its plan to ask the United States to deploy spy planes over the West
Philippine Sea to help monitor the country’s territorial waters.

Lacierda stressed the Philippines has the right to explore all
options in safeguarding its territorial waters, including seeking help
from the US.

He added that the request should be viewed in the context of the defense cooperation between the Philippines and the US.

“So there’s no issue to us. We do not view it as a provocative
statement,” Lacierda said.

“And as the President said, by no stretch of
the imagination can you consider the Philippines as an aggressor.”

Defending Kalayaan

Meanwhile, Kalayaan, Palawan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon said his
civilian constituents in the Spratly region are not disturbed by China’s
current aggression.

“We are not disturbed at all,” Bito-onon said, adding that aside from
the Philippines, China has also to deal with other Spratlys claimant
countries if Beijing so decides to settle the territorial dispute by
force.

Western Command (Wescom) commander Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban also vowed that they would defend at all costs Kalayaan municipality.

“We will keep on doing our duty, prepare for any contingency and let
our leaders do the high level solutions. Kalayaan municipality is ours.
We will defend it,” Sabban said.

Wescom, a composite military unit of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP), has operational jurisdictions over the Kalayaan
Island Group (KIG) and has forward troops deployed in the region.

The Philippines and China are currently locked in a territorial
dispute not only in Panatag Shoal but also in the Spratly region, which
is also being claimed in whole or in part by Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan
and Brunei.

The Spratly archipelago is a chain of islets, reefs, atolls and sand
bars straddling the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in
mineral and fuel deposits.

Panatag Shoal is located 124 nautical miles from Zambales Province
and is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) and continental shelf.

China stands on a historical claim while the Philippines has taken
the view that Beijing’s claim is not supported by the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)